Between state and religion: The marginalization of Aliya Madrasa students in Bangladesh

This sociological and anthropological work traces Aliya madrasa students' vulnerability in contemporary Bangladesh. Madrasa education has been at the center of contentious political debate in Bangladesh since independence in 1971. After independence, secularism was introduced as the central pillar of the constitution and applied to build a secular nation. Meanwhile, religious especially madrasa education was antagonized, politicized, and perceived as communalist, antinational, and primitive. For this reason, Aliya madrasa education was marginalized, not even recognized by the secular state until 1985. After being recognized partially in 1985, when Aliya madrasa students started to enter public universities and government jobs, the public university authority, with the blessing of the state, which is historically dominated by the authoritarian secular discourse, began to put several extra conditions for admission of madrasa students. As a consequence of these extra conditions, hundreds of thousands of madrasa students were denied admission in public universities, and rejected from a government job for their educational background. Nevertheless, this secular state-sponsored historically constructed alienating discourse has cost madrasa students the opportunity to get government jobs. They are subjected to violence in public universities and the public sphere, stigmatized as antinational and communal elements. In order to study the above phenomenon, this research draws up the trajectory of otherisation and ostracization of madrasa students in contemporary Bangladesh and tries to connect historical trajectories with their lived experiences through a genealogical and anthropological approach. This thesis aims to contribute to the sociological and anthropological discussion of the Bangladeshi secular state, violence, discrimination, and the Aliya madrasa.